Singing Was the Easy Part

Vic Damone is one of the greatest pop singers of the twentieth century. Born Vito Farinola in Bay Ridge, New York on June 12, 1928, he worked as a young guy as an usher at the fabled Paramount Theatre and shot to the top of the Billboard Chart on August 30, 1947 when his first hit "I Have But One Heart" reached #7. He was mentored by everyone from Perry Como to Tommy Dorsey. Frank Sinatra praised his voice and became a friend for life, giving him advice on singing and women, in equal...
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Vic Damone is one of the greatest pop singers of the twentieth century. Born Vito Farinola in Bay Ridge, New York on June 12, 1928, he worked as a young guy as an usher at the fabled Paramount Theatre and shot to the top of the Billboard Chart on August 30, 1947 when his first hit "I Have But One Heart" reached #7. He was mentored by everyone from Perry Como to Tommy Dorsey. Frank Sinatra praised his voice and became a friend for life, giving him advice on singing and women, in equal parts. Damone had one of the most successful careers ever had by an American pop singer and one of the most glamorous and exciting lives of any guy who lived while the Ratpack reigned. -He was almost thrown out of the window of New York City's Edison Hotel by a mobster when he broke off an engagement to the mobster's daughter. -He dated gorgous women like Ava Gardner, who got him drunk for the first time, and the stripper Lili St. Cyr, who showed him a few other firsts. -He had a tempestuous first-marriage to the glamorous Italian actress Ana Maria Pierangeli and an even more tempestuous later one to Diahann Carroll. -He covered such classics as "On the Street Where You Live" (his recording forced Lerner and Loewe to keep it in their show "My Fair Lady" when they had decided to take it out) and made other numbers like "You Do" his own. -He was interviewed by Judy Garland for his first screen test. -He appeared at the Sands Hotel with the Ratpack during the glory days of Vegas and once took a nude chorus girl into the steam room where Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin were relaxing between shows -He carved out a niche for himself, working with such talented conductor/arrangers as Burt Bachrach and John Williams while people like Jay Leno appeared on the bill as his opening act. In Singing Was the Easy Part, Damone tells the whole story of his life from his near-whacking to his succession of marriages to beautiful women, to his life in Hollywood and his two television series. He talks frankly about his bankruptcy, his many marriages and his belief in God, first sparked at a Roman Catholic church in Bay Ridge, which has kept him going throughout the tough times. Singing Was the Easy Part is a warm and rollicking memoir from the great Vic Damone that will appeal to everyone who loves the cool sound of American pop classics and the tough, savvy guys who sang them.